Standard Lemma guide

ribonuclease

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌɹaɪbəʊˈnjuːklieɪz/

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of a group of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of ribonucleic acid.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, microbiology, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a transferase that catalyzes the hydrolysis of ribonucleic acid

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ribonucleinase, RNase

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: transferase

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English ribose English nucleic English ribonucleic Proto-Indo-European *dwóh1 Proto-Indo-European *dwísder. Ancient Greek διά (diá) Ancient Greek δῐᾰ- (dĭă-) Proto-Indo-European *steh2- Proto-Indo-European *stísteh2ti Proto-Hellenic *hístāmi Ancient Greek ῐ̔́στημῐ (hĭ́stēmĭ) Ancient Greek δῐῐ̈́στημῐ (dĭĭ̈́stēmĭ) Ancient Greek δῐᾰ́στᾰσῐς (dĭắstăsĭs) English diastase English -ase English ribonuclease From ribonucleic + -ase.

Across languages

Translations

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • French: ribonucléase — enzyme catalyzing the hydrolysis of ribonucleic acid
  • German: Ribonuklease — enzyme catalyzing the hydrolysis of ribonucleic acid
  • Icelandic: ríbónúkleasi — enzyme catalyzing the hydrolysis of ribonucleic acid
  • Russian: рибонуклеа́за (ribonukleáza) — enzyme catalyzing the hydrolysis of ribonucleic acid
  • Ukrainian: рибонуклеаза (rybonukleaza) — enzyme catalyzing the hydrolysis of ribonucleic acid